Two take deals in 2007 MO shootings

Two men charged in a 2007 shootout that left a bystander dead at Brookwood Apartments in Mount Olive took plea deals with prosecutors on Thursday morning.

According to court records, D'Morriais Q. Rivers, now 27, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Julius Troublefield Jr., 38. The second-degree murder charge was reduced from a charge of first-degree murder. A charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill was dismissed, court records show.

Rivers was sentenced to between about eight and nearly 11 years in prison for the offense, records show. He was given more than two years credit for time served in the Wayne County Jail, effectively reducing his sentence by 848 days.

The defendant's brother, Arsenio Martrez Rivers, now 20, pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. He was sentenced to between 17 and 30 months in the Department of Correction, also with credit for 848 days served in Wayne County Jail, court records show.

Mount Olive police reported at the time that Amanda Council, then 35, of Wynn Street, and Arsenio Rivers, then 17, and D'Morriais Rivers, then 25, were all involved with the shooting.

Ms. Council agreed to a plea deal earlier this year, receiving credit for time served in jail. Protesters had gathered outside the Wayne County Courthouse on more than one occasion to proclaim her innocence and to plead for her release.

The suspects were arrested in July 2007 by Mount Olive police.

Town authorities originally responded to the scene at 221 Daly Boulevard just before midnight on a Friday that July, police said.

They reportedly found Troublefield lying dead on the sidewalk with a crowd of people standing around him.

It was later determined that Troublefield had died from a gunshot wound to the chest, authorities said.

The police chief at the time, Emmett Ballree, told the newspaper that police did not believe gang activity was involved with the shooting.

Police said at the time that tensions escalated between several groups of people, ending in the shootout.

Detective Sgt. C.J. Weaver responded to the plea deals.

"We're happy for the family, we're happy that the folks can move on, and that the family can have some closure," Weaver said. "We're happy that it gets them (the defendants) off the streets for a little while."